school has surprised me!

[blackeyedsusan]

last week I asked for harder words to read... one (or more) groups have been given spellings!

I also asked for more challenging books as the yellow band books were a "little easy." given that we are reading easy chapter books at home they have put her up one band. I am shocked as we normally play a little game every couple of months where I say the books arer too easy and they ignore me and we carry on doing our own thing in our own happy way. once pmt has passed

ok so she could spell the words first time at home and green band is not a big leap, but i do not know whether she will cope with spelling in a test and at least the green band books are a little harder and we can get something out of it now. she has been asked to practice adding numbers in the teens as she doesn't use the number line to count on. (tends to do these things in her head) well we have practised and introduced a strategy of using number bonds of single digit numbers to check teens+ addition (ie if 2 and 4 =6 then 12+4=16 and 22+4=26 etc) doubt that will go down well! I hope she talks about her strategy at school.

I think I want to push for more, but not until she has had time to try out/prove herself for another month or so. (after all she might go to pieces under test conditions and we have a lot of work to do on handwriting) anyone fancy sitting on me and administering the duct tape for the next month?

(disclaimer, i know she is not doing some of the stuff other really bright children do at this age, though she is the top end of normal and I post mainly because i as fed up of the lack of progress ith reading in school compared to home)

ps, sorry about the lack of capitals, intermittent shift key!

Yes thats what we do, but its soooo boring

Even DS is getting fed up of doing that tbh.

While I remember, BES you are good at finding things in the internet if you don't know the answer

What order to kids learn to blend words iyswim???

DD has started to read properly but by sight and remembering the words (from other books we have read etc) I want to try some basic blending with her.

All I can remember at the beginning is a t and s a t.

Her nursery have told me she is ready for this and will be doing some with her there too

I know, we did chicken out of the Glasto thing. My excuse is that it was daunting enough taking a child into the mud for the first time, never mind adding a bear to the mix too...

Simpson, I can't remember, did you take a list of home reading books in to school? If not, it might be worth a punt to focus their minds a bit...

My turn for a whine. I was just about on board with the idea that DD seemed happy playing at school then getting the 'work' - more complex reading, workbooks etc - she wants to do done at home. But now she has taken to doing maths worksheets from the writing table at school, but not showing the teachers and either bringing them home to do, or just to show me. I think she really doesn't associate school with work at all! Any thoughts? We have a meeting with the teacher next week, so any ideas v helpful.

not me simpson, I just bookmark anything that looks useful in the education threads. last time they gave me a clue as to what to google and I followed links round many authorities

satpin are the first 6. blending sat, pat, pin, tin etc.

can she hear the first sounds in words? (s in sat, p in pin) next she should be able to identify the last sound (t in sat, n in pin)

talk about the characters, are they good bad, what tells us they are good or bad? how do they feel and how do we know? look at the punctuation and talk about its name/effect. !?,. name bold/italics/capitals. find information in non fiction books. use contents/index/know the difference between the 2. look at the word in the text.. eg adjectives, words used instead of said/went...

I will have another look later if I get time. I have yet to tackle the reading book she was given last week. we have been too busy writing about the class toy to do writing about the book too.

FFS DS told me that he read with his new teacher today for the first time and the teacher gave him a level 7 book to read

Even DS who is the most mild mannered, shy, quiet kid said he did not want to read it.

The teacher got him a level 8 book in the end as he has done all the level 9s

sorry simpson
what is it with these teachers and reading books? dd is supposed to be able to choose from band 8 and 9 but surprise surprise the band 9 books are rarely avalible for her to choose.

Don;t know whether to have yet another word

Spoke to the new teacher for the first time today and he seems nice enough (but young) as DS has to have an operation on his hand in a few wks.

Ds only told me about the reading book thing when we got home....

I know what you mean,i get sick of the sound of my own voice with school,i have to admit atm i'm seeing school as more of a social thing and we are doing most of our learing at home,slightly defeatest attitude i know but it is keeping me sane.

passes simpson a coffee (avoiding scalding steam emitting from her ears)

WHY? what the hell was the teacher thinking?

thanks for the coffee

Am starting to get really fed up with it tbh.

In every other subject the school is ok (ish) I feel DS could be doing a bit more in numeracy but am not overly worried about it iyswim.

Problem is he comes home from school so tired that I cannot do much with him except for 15mins of reading whatever book we are doing together (atm its a secret 7 one)

Think the same thing is starting to happen with DD too as her nursery teacher has promised me some word boxes for her that they use in reception (DD still in nursery) but they have not materialised

mrsshears - I know what you mean about the social thing as that is my thinking too. In some ways the school has been fab ie the way they dealt with the bullying DS endured earlier on this yr.....

In defense of the new teacher he is trying to get to grips with the needs and abilities of all the children (as well as the routine of a new class and school and finding out what resources he has, which children work well together, who cant find their arse with both hands. He has probably spoken to so many new parents, children and colleagues over the last couple of days that he is stressed to the eyeballs. It is bloody hard work - harder than you can imagine - to start teaching a new class half way through a year). When listening to children read he is assessing much more than their ability to decode (expression, pace, confidence etc to name but a few). Perhaps he wanted to start DS off with something easy incase he was nervous reading in front of a new person (as many children are). A good sign is he listened to your son and got him a level 8 book. Maybe that was all he had access to at such short notice. I understand your frustration as a parent over this but it does not indicate that the teacher - in the long term - is going to be bad for your child or ignore previous information about his ability.

adoptmama on a slight tangent dh is in fits of laughter over 'who can't find their arse with both hands'

adoptmama - I totally get what you are saying and thats why I have not said anything. I had to talk to him today about DS's hand which is starting to bother him a bit sadly when he is writing etc. But have not mentioned books yet.

But I would have thought the other teacher would have left info to say what level she had assessed him at???

simpson absolutely the teacher will have left information, which likely new guy had NO access to until he began the job (presumably the day before yesterday). He will have had no chance to read it yet in all likliehood - or at least will not have had more than a glance at it. He also got to look at schemes of work, reporting schedules, IEPs for special needs etc. He has to familiarise himself with duty rotas, bus routines, lunch and break schedules etc. He will also want to form his own opinion of the children by assessing them himself. It will all take time (and that's why it is hellish hard taking over someone else's class).
Many children will NOT initially perform as well for the new teacher as for the old teacher - some because they need to build rapport and a relationship with new guy before they make the effort or feel safe to expose their weaknesses, others because they have misplaced loyalty to the old teacher. Some children will be deliberately uncooperative because they miss the old teacher, feel angry at him for leaving them and act that out on the new teacher. It can be a very complex time for a class as they find and develop a new rhythm and working relationship together. Inevitably the new teacher will make alterations to daily routines and teaching methodologies to suit his own working style which some children will not like (and parents too). It is a big period of adjustment for everyone. Your new teacher may also have just moved house, town or even country to take up this post and is also going through a lot of adjustments. Trust me, the nicest thing you can do for this teacher just now is say 'thanks, I hope you are settling in well and enjoying yourself with the class'.

He has been there 3wks. Well this is his third week and he is half way through iyswim.

He shadowed the other teacher for a wk last term and this is his second full week.

What really pisses me off tbh is that despite DS being assessed at a higher reading level no books for his level are in the classroom (which is not the teachers fault I know) and so the highest/hardest book they can give DS is a level 9 one.

Think we have parents eve early feb so may leave it till then but DS was upset tonight and said "I practice my reading every night, why won't they give me harder books??" It is a very mixed ability class which must be tough to teach though.

When his other teacher left in dec we (me and DS) made her a thank you card and DS chose her some chocs. Was suprised at how few bothered though

Work shadowing really isn't much help except in maybe getting some names fixed in memory (which holidays wipe out), sorting timetable, discussing schemes used for literacy, numeracy etc. If discussions were held on individuals they were most likely on children with learning difficulties as that is where the focus goes. Early February is not so long to wait to discuss it - really he's only had 8 days on the job if you went back on the 2nd (brutal!!)

I love it when kids make the thankyou card - it does make it more special, even if they are not gifted in arts :) Most parents I know say thank you with more regularity in MuckDonalds than they do to their children's teacher. A sincere thank you goes a hell of a long way and produces a lot of good will.

I will never defend a bad or incompetent teacher and of course they exist - as do bad doctors, lawyers, waiters and parents. But few other jobs exist where the entire population think they understand the complexities and difficulties of the job for no other reason than they went to school. It is very demoralising to constantly be faced with parents who think being 'assertive' means rudeness, condescension and agression are ok behaviours. It is also very demoralising to want to do your best by every child in your class and know you can't because of lack of time, money, staff and resources and a prescribed and restrictive curriculum. I had 4 emails last term from parents complaining (about grades being too low - child plagarised - non-inclusion in trip - they didn't sign up - detention for uniform - they were not wearing required uniform - and grades on report - no reason, parent just wanted them to be higher). (emails thanking me = zero). Unfortunately parents who act like this are the ones who take up the majority of our time and make us all cynical about the next generation of lazy, self entitled kids being raised with no sense of responsibility :) It can leave us with little time left to focus on the things we want and need to. Constantly fire fighting to tackle unwarranted complaints are the distractions which prevent us looking for that book from the next level up on the reading scheme, or producing an interesting and challenging piece of work to enrich the able child. Trying to find strategies which will keep little Johnny in his seat, with his mouth shut and his hands and feet to himself will absorb all my time so that your DC who is so well behaved and can work quietly by himself will have none of my time. Sorting out little Katy who just called me a fecking bitch for taking her cigarettes off the table will disrupt my lesson to the point of no return. 'Mixed ability' is a misleading term designed to reassure parents that all they need to worry about in their child's class is a few children who are a little behind average. They are the least of any teacher's worries!

So make a teacher's day - say thank you!

in my day you got the bloody reading books out in less than a week, (3 days was almost too long) and we had more than thirty in a class, mixed year groups too including new starter reception children! you did it because reading books/diaries are the main interface with parents. the one thing you do not do is put them down a book band with out talking to the parent. that is like poking a hornets nest.

And DS bless him is so shy it would have taken him quite a lot of guts to say something about it especially to a teacher he does not really know yet.

I have to say though, I did feel for him (new teacher) a bit on monday as some clever soul scheduled PE as the last lesson of the day and of course the kids came out late.

When I turned up at 3.15 most of them were in various states of undress (kids not teacher lol) and the parents waiting outside were getting the hump and one parent actually knocked on the classroom door and demanded her child be given to her there and then

Adoptmama - we have (yet another) meeting with DD's teacher next week so I will make sure I say thank you for the new reading books and the fact that they're starting her on Read Write Inc even though she's only in reception.

It is also very demoralising to want to do your best by every child in your class and know you can't because of lack of time, money, staff and resources and a prescribed and restrictive curriculum.

I know that this is what so many of us are up against really, but at the same time it is also the reason why we have to keep going in and making sure that our children are being noticed - especially if they are the kind of children who won't speak out themselves. I don't blame the teacher for not seeing what's going on, but I also can't just sit back and let DD's needs be ignored. But it's still frustrating when extension work we've been promised takes ages to materialise, if it ever turns up at all.

I'd love to be able to make up the shortfall more myself - I already go in and select books for her from the library. But as Simpson says, it's hard to do things at home in the scrappy ends of the day. I'd love to take DD out for two afternoons and do interesting stuff with her then, but I don't think the school would ever agree.

onesandwhich - I totally agree with the reasons why parents feel the need to keep approaching staff and, when a teacher has promised something, it should be delivered. I face many of the same frustrations with my DDs education as everyone else, so I genuinely do see the issues we face as parents.

It's just I also have a great deal of sympathy for the teachers as I also know how one thing happening in the course of the day can blow everything you've planned out of the water for the rest of the week. To give some examples I have had children confide abuse, rape, addiction, pregnancy and rough sleeping to me over the years, all in the middle of lessons. These issues, as everyone appreciates, need urgent action and can totally disrupt everything you had planned to do. And having to spend hours filling in paperwork to combat malicious allegations or justify grades parents don't like also takes time off the stuff we want to do. I am guilty of being a teacher who has promised something and been unable to meet the deadline I set because of other issues materialising. The day to day juggling of a very overloaded curriculum in primary school also leaves many staff there with little time left over to do the things they promise. It's not good and none of us like it. Unfortunately it is the system we work in.

One thing that I would suggest when the school have agreed to provide extension work etc. is set the date with the teacher when it is coming. Like 'oh that's great, when would be a good day to come and get it?' and then the day before be like 'for collecting that work we agreed on tomorrow, what's the best time for you? Shall I come at the end of school when you have a little more time?' It means you are reminding the teacher - who, let's be honest may well have forgotten or not sorted it out - that it is still on the agenda. I do make promises to parents at meetings and I am guilty of forgetting stuff. A gentle reminder is often all it takes for me to get back on track :) Like you I would love to do more with DD after school to feed her interests, but she is too tired and so am I :( I don't have a solution for that. I am not sure there is one. I am sometimes really pissed off with things that happen in DDs class and can't understand why it is being done, so I do understand the frustration that occurs when your child is given the wrong level book etc. but I would be cautious in assuming this means that the teacher is unaware or uncaring of the level they can read at - perhaps they just wanted to hear how well he read (tone, pace, expression, emphasis etc.) rather than how many hard words he can decode.

Schools are not the same places they were in ye olden days. There are many, many more demands on teachers time. There may be smaller classes (though not always) but there are more social issues, more IEPs, more behaviour issues (with special schools having shut down) and more children without English coming into our classes. There is a heavier curriculum and lots more paperwork than in the past. Lots more! We try very hard to be child centred but it is a very difficult juggling act. I am not diminishing anyone's genuine struggle with the school, as I know teachers can have a very unhelpful attitude over gifted childen. But we are not all like that. Some people are hugely unrealistic in what they think the school can and should do with the time and resources available.

things have imprroved. having read recent documents., the need for collecting evidence has been scaled back and teachers now have ppa time. the need to hear individual children read once or twice a week has been relaxed and teachers are getting a lot more classroom assistant time.(full time in a lot of cases, and improvement on 1 1/2 hours every 6 days) the need to also, getting reading books right is a major factor in keeping paernts happy in primary schools. (and yes things happen in priomary school too, children wet themselves arre sick/fight/fall/arrive and leave in less than a week and social issues have always been around) providing work at an appropriate level is a basic requirement. providing books that are FIVE Levels different from the assessed level is not providing differentiated work.

I don't think I am being too pushy, all I want is for DS to have a reading book that is on the level he has been assessed

He is v excited as the school are doing a cycling profeciancy (sp) thing at school tomorrow so he has to take in his bike, helmet and a good bike lock and will have an hr of cycling in the afternoon

ruddy toy goes back tomorrow, if I remember!

just taken some snaps of dd's writing as granny wants to see it and the book is with someone else tomorrow.

simpson I'm sorry if you thought I was saying you were pushy as I was not suggesting this and don't feel that what I wrote have that impression. I was simply trying to explain, from another perspective, the issues teachers - and a very new teacher at that - would be facing. Term starts are very busy time. I wouldn't worry your son has been 'demoted' to reading books below his assessed level. I would guess that unfortuntately it was all the new teacher had to hand. He did at least try to furnish your son with a higher level book when he asked, which is positive.